


The Beginning of the End

by Reverse_Vampire



Category: Final Fantasy Type-0
Genre: 'Corruption' and 'Morality' are still the main themes of this story if you look like it as it is, Gen, So much anguish and despair, Speaking of which this story feel like it for 'Despair', but oh well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-07-24 09:20:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7502847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reverse_Vampire/pseuds/Reverse_Vampire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They have won the war, but peace did not last long. </p><p>It was the beginning of the end, and the remaining brave cadets are forced to fend for themselves when an army of giant, eldritch-looking knights reign all over Rubrum. While fighting for survival, one cadet finally saw the truth in regards to the Consortium and the need to stand up for herself in times of despair.</p><p>Day Five entry of Type-0 Week 2016. Theme: Morality AND Corruption.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Beginning of the End

**Author's Note:**

> This story would feature no Class Zero cadets or any major characters. Instead, it will focus on the situation in Akademeia shortly before the events of Chapter 8. Some OCs here and there; and the Consortium of Eight will be playing a major part for this one.
> 
> I'll be posting the entries of Type-0 Week 2016 for Day 2 to Day 4 soon. Hopefully, it will be ready before 7th August 2016.

"...Ingram...fallen...victory..."

These were the words that were heard and deciphered amongst heavy static from the COMM in one communication line, with the Rubrum legionaries stationed just outside the entrance of Akademeia. Soon, the news of Ingram’s fall to Rubrum spread fast across Akademeia, as legionaries and cadets alike were spreading the word everywhere they get their chances on faster than wildfire. Some were in disbelief that the Rubrum forces were efficient in taking Militesi forces down, but others found that predictable since Class Zero, the most elite class of all, were present as well in aiding their defeat of the Milites’ general, whose name was all forgotten but the ’White Thunder’ moniker.

“Down with the oppressors!"

“Peace to all Orience!"

A cadet who wore a green mantle, with short brown hair and a white hairband could hear cadets and legionaries yelling and yodelled with joy across the fountain area. Amidst all the cheers that were being called, she was trying to look for her fellow cadets who were not deployed for the mission at Ingram. After some pushes and apologies exchanged to those around the area, she finally found the people she was looking for. Two male cadets stood around the lane leading to the airship, with one wearing a Class Ten mantle and the other, a Class Eight mantle patting each other on the back. 

"Hey!" The Class Five cadet huffed and catch her breath before calling out to her friends. "Tenya! Saito! Did ya hear that? We won! Am I dreaming?"

"Yo, Yuuka!" The Class Ten cadet named Tenya raised his hand and gave Yuuka a hearty hi-five. "It's real, and that means Rubrum controls all of Orience."

"About time, and you think those pesky Milites troops never give up. Ingram's fall should teach them never to mess around with us." Said Saito as he stood with triumph and crossed both his arms. "Ahh, what a time to be alive..."

As the cadets and legionaries continued cheering and talking excitedly with their win, Yuuka felt a trickle of raindrops landing on her cheek, and then some on her shirt. She found this odd; the sky still looked clear and pleasant with no signs of downpour to be seen for the day. 

"Hmm, either I'm wrong or it's some sort of surprise. The weather forecast mentioned that there's not gonna be any rain today." Yuuka then wiped the liquid off her cheek, with her body shook the moment she saw something on her fingers.

Being sensitive towards his and his friend's body language, Tenya turned to the startled Class Five cadet, looking concerned over what she saw. "What's wrong---what?" The concern has now turned into feeling of horror upon seeing Yuuka's hand stained with a crimson-colored liquid that eerily looked a lot like blood. The three cadets looked up in the sky and saw blood red raindrops falling even more than ever before from the sky, and before long the blue sky gradually turned from a shade of dark purple to crimson, where the rain drops poured in its entirety. At the same time, a rumble from the ground was felt before subsiding, leaving segments of the walking alley uneven and bumpy. 

A cadet next to the trio then placed his right hand onto his ear, concentrating on the message given on his COMM. Yuuka, who was the nearest to him, tried to pay attention to the voice over the communication line. 

"...Central Command speaking. Cadets who are hearing this message on the COMM currently are to station yourselves outside the entrance of Akademeia. There are unknown invaders appearing throughout Orience and we have received urgent distress calls from nearby towns in the Rubrum Region. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill..." 

She managed to hear a good part of the message before the cadet left for his position alongside many other cadets and legionaries stationing at their informed location. 

"What did you hear?" Saito asked.

"Something about unknown invaders being found all over Orience and urgent distress calls from nearby towns." Yuuka faced up, looking very concerned over the sudden change of color of the sky. "If that happened all of a sudden and having some strange forces at work, does that mean the battle isn't over yet?"

Before the cadet could ponder any longer, she let out an anguished shriek, presumably disturbed over what she had just heard on her COMM when Tenya and Saito witnessed their friend pressing her fingers hard on her ear.

"Is there something wrong?"

"I don't know. It sounded...so painful...over the COMM." Yuuka grasped for words to say properly, rubbing her ear over the pain of the piercing scream she heard on her line. But before Tenya and Saito could say anymore, their COMM let out a beep for them to hear the upcoming message.

"Central Command here, and we have received news of the situation outside Akademeia. We have yet to identify what the unknown intruders are, and we will keep everyone updated as soon as we find some new information on them. Cadets who have their names called are to be stationed outside Akademeia's entrance, as well as Mctighe, Aqvi and Corsi to protect any surviving civilians..." Yuuka, Tenya and Saito had their names called out on the other line as they listened attentively to the remaining names called for duty.

"Seems like we're next." Saito said, and then looked around for a moment. "Aren't we missing someone?"

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Where’s Mori?" Tenya joined Saito in scanning the area, seeing if their other friend has heard the message and knows where to find them.

“She’s probably lazing at the Crystarium. Let me get—“ Saito could heard from static from his COMM before hearing a light, familiar voice on the communication tool.

“H-hello? Can you hear me? What’s going on?” The voice was a little muffled at first before becoming audible for all to hear.

“An emergency, unfortunately.” Yuuka joined in the conversation as she scanned the ominous sky. “Anyways, in case you didn't notice, it’s raining out here. But not the pleasant sort of drizzle."

“We got orders from intel to head out and fight some strange giants surround Rubrum.” Tanya continued, adjusting his mantle as he spoke. “From what I’ve heard from the officers, about 120 cadets and legionaries have been sent out in the field to deal with them. Class Zero is still not back, so we have to do whatever we can to fight back."

“…I’ll meet you in a while. There’s something I need to do before I join you all. Sorry about that, but catch you all later."

“What do you mean? Mori? Mori!” It was all she said and they were now disconnected. It was certainly strange that Mori cut them off like that. From their days as Agito cadets, she was not the type of person who leave her friends without reason to pursue her own matters. The rain has become more intense by the second, and there were orders to obey.

“Y’all ready? It’s now or never."

“But what about Mori?” said Tenya, looking distressed as he turned to the doors that led to the entrance.

Saito looked ahead with a determined look and summoned his boomerang. “She’ll look for us once she’s done with whatever she’s doing. For now, it’s our duty as Agito cadets to keep any threat out of Rubrum, and this includes battling some weird creatures that Cental claimed that it's nothing they have seen before. Who knows? Maybe from this, one of us will become Agito after all."

Yuuka summoned her crossbow this time and stood beside Saito with much confidence. “He’s right. There’s no time to waste."

Tenya shook his head, worried that his other two friends are out of their minds. “I don’t like what’s gonna happen once we face them. But orders are orders. Mori can wait.” With that, he summoned his sword and the three cadets charged out of Akademeia, unaware of the danger that entails for the brave cadets who were willing to put their lives on the line in a completely unexpected situation that they know little of.

* * *

At the very moment Mori disconnected her COMM, she could see the door open from Central Command. In a split second, she hid behind the pillar towards one of the portal to the classroom. At the entrance, she heard some harsh whispering and hurried footsteps. She could not hear clearly of what these people were mumbling about, so Mori took a peek and saw Chancellor Khalia, as well as members of the Consortium of Eight, save for the Archsorceress standing right in front of the statue right below Central Command.

Before she could take a closer look, she hid from their view, sensing that the Provost was looking around the entrance before making his next move. Zaidou pulled and made a 180º turn on the hand with the staff that the statue was holding. It made a soft rumble that made Mori curious as took a peek again.

“...you all head to the mausoleum first. There is something that I need to attend to...” It was all Mori could make out from the Commissar’s words before leaving as she entered the portal and transported to her designated location. The remaining authorities then made their way inside the secret passage and Mori waited until the statue slammed shut, returning back at its original position.

As she took some time to think about the series of events that has just occured, the shiny red portal at the center of the entrance faded into nothingness, leaving only a bare, dull Vermillion Bird insignia on the floor.

“I guess the fight at the Rubrum Region will have to wait. I’m not an Agito cadet if I ignore something this major. The Consortium…I have a bad feeling about this.” The Class Tenth cadet turned to the statue and did the same as what the Provost did earlier. The statue made a rumble as it revealed the secret passage that they were using earlier. Mori made her way in, making sure that she know what she was about to do would unveil a conspiracy of some sort.

Mori followed the Consortium of Eight members in the secret passage, feeling uneasy over the narrow and cold aisle that felt like suffocating her as she walked pass many other doors along the way the moment the aisle widened the further she progressed. Up towards the end of the path, she reached a grand door that was made of smooth, quality and lustrous wood. She felt it for a while, trying to budge the door open by pulling the handle but to no avail after much effort in pulling it. 

Before she made another attempt, she stopped, hearing some voices on one of the smaller doors nearby. The ever curious cadet soon paced towards said door and began eavesdropping, hearing people shouting about something behind it. She could only picked up snippets of the conversation as voices fade in and out as she tried to make out whatever that was going on behind closed doors. Within several moments, Mori could recognize the voices of the Provost, Cadetmaster and Commandant arguing over something about their next stage of their plans, before hearing a few gunshots that ended the neverending chattering and shouting.

 _"This...what? It couldn't be...I have to tell everyone about this!"_ Mori told herself as she take a few moments to keep her composure upon this new revelation she had discovered, taking a few steps back before swiftly turning towards where she first entered the secret passage...

“Where do you think you’re going? A cadet not following orders? How insolent."

At an instance, Mori turned to see the Commandant, whose attire was covered in blood stains and holding a gun on one hand.

“How…how could you?” Mori spoke softly, but harshly. She covered her mouth with both hands, and her eyes wide with fear and disbelief.

The Commandant sneered and moved closer to Mori, pressing the gun on the cadet’s neck without holding back as he spoke, “That’s how things go around here. And as someone vital to Akademeia, I can’t die now. Not like this. Call it fate, but unlike you and all your cadet friends and the surviving legionaries, I’m not disposable.”

“W-w-what did you do to the rest? The other members of the Consortium?” She pushed the gun aside, pulling the door situated not too far from where the first shelter room was. Her right hand could not remain still, seeing the dead Cadetmaster and Provost on the floor, their eyes wide open with several bullets on their heads.

“As for that shrew,” said the Commandant as he aimed the gun at Mori, “She’s next, right I’m done with you. What a pity it must end this way, but this proves that only the competent should survive.” Without giving her the window for her to summon her weapon, he fired two shots on her right hand. Mori let out an agonizing groan, feeling immense pain on her palm as her left hand firmly pressed her right wrist to ease the sudden rush of pain.

At the same time, she could sense that she felt nothing for a while. She raised her hand and saw her ring finger missing, severed with the second bullet shooting right across the missing finger.

But before she could dwell on her loss, she could hear the gun cocked as she saw the Commandant with an assuring smirk, this time aiming at her chest.

_“Yuuka…Tenya…Saito, they’re fighting out there. Think, think! I’m not gonna die here! Not like this. There’s only one way to go about this-"_

As triggers were pulled, Mori used her uninjured hand and pulled the corpse of the nearby Provost and swing the body towards the commandant with all her might.

“NOT TODAY!” The Class Ten cadet thrust forward at the right moment, pressing her body against the Provost's corpse towards the Commandant, his gun blocked by the Provost's body as he triggered his next shot. At that very point without any signs of hesitation, Mori ran out of the room, moving as quickly as she can before the Commandant could recover and catch up with her. 

* * *

With a bleeding hand with some of her fingers missing, Mori managed to return to normal Akademeia grounds as she made her way out of the secret passage, planning to pass through the many gates that will lead her to the Rubrum region to join her friends to protect their beloved school at all costs. Before she could go through the metal gates leading to the main gate, she could have swore she heard another gunshot when she left main building. While making her escape, she could hear voices on her COMM, with her friends being desperate of their situation as she made her way out of the main gate.

“…no…dents…what in Orience…"

“Are they even from this world?”

Mori was taken aback of what she heard next, with a scream full of agony increasingly getting louder and hearing some bones creaking and snapping before the COMM could no longer transmit anymore messages. At that moment, she tried calling out his name. She was hit with a feeling of nausea and attempted to recall the name of her friend, but no matter how much she tried, everything was blurry.

His face…how did he looked like again?

His name…name?

The only thing she could recall was that her friend wore a yellow mantle. That was it. There was nothing that could help her remember him; all the Knowing Tags were in their respective COs’ possession and there was no way she could identify him if she ever felt lucky that she would recognise him.

Mori was already just outside Akademeia, seeing how she was surrounded by a few surviving cadets who were too afraid to make a move, seeing a group of giant soldiers holding onto a slightly bent sword and blank, white faces walking slowly, with one of them strolling towards its next target, with the cadet quickly crawling backwards before meeting his end when the giant soldier slashed the sword on its victim.

The girl, with her hands covering her mouth, tried not to make any noise but she cannot resist the horror that she had just witnessed. She let out a scream, albeit muffled and shy of several decibels in being heard all over the region. Without a second thought, she turned around and began walking away, but she almost lost her balance the very moment she looked at the person standing right behind her. 

"Your friend's dead now, and end of the line for you." 

Right in front of her was the Commandant who was holding onto a white sack, the other hand barely lifting the gun to aim at the sole surviving cadet. "Justice and morality don't mean anything...UWAAAAAA!" 

It was either sheer luck or her hunch telling her to move out of the way, seeing that the strange, armor-clad giant soldier had already moved closer towards the entrance, slashing the Commandant within a single stroke with its blunt, lethal blade. 

With the pain getting onto her and no longer feeling the adrenaline that surged from earlier, Mori took some time to scan her surroundings, trying to recall the names of her friends as she slumped against the hard, concrete ground. 

There she was, standing right in front of the entrance where bodies, cold and still, surrounded the staircase towards the main building. Seeing her dear friend, who wore the black mantle of Class Ten, and whose name she could no longer recall drenched in blood and half his face with first degree burns lying right in front of her.

Considering her other two friends were nowhere to be seen within her vantage point, she was the only cadet left stand, and all alone to face such colossal threats that could do nothing but swing its blade, slaughtering any survivors that they see.

“…I guess it all ends here. Is this how I’m gonna relieve my final moments?”

On her knees, Mori shed tears. She could feel only nothing and closed her eyes before the approaching eldritch figure stood in front of her, raising its blade and for a while in forever, there was nothing.

 

 

 

 

_**END** _


End file.
